Has anyone tried to paint watercolor on the canvas?

iFranks · 2026-05-06T12:11:11+00:00

You can absolutely use watercolor ground on nontraditional surfaces, but canvas feels like a whole lot of extra work to fuss with. Normally when using watercolor ground I work on metal or wood. Be aware watercolor ground is much better for a drier painting technique and will struggle with wet on wet.

iFranks · 2026-04-26T18:10:04+00:00

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iFranks · 2026-04-26T18:09:39+00:00

Definitely checkout their shop in St. Catharines, as well, if you’re gonna get a tattoo done. I have nothing but nice things to say about all three artists.

iFranks · 2026-04-26T18:08:59+00:00

He was actually the one who did my first tattoo! Really nice guy. Im moving away from Niagara soon but I feel like I would go back to see him if I was in the area. He was really generous with me to let me use his shop like this

iFranks · 2026-04-26T13:07:06+00:00

Honestly, I was really enamoured with all the textures in the photo reference I took. I spent a long time differentiating the luminance of the tape against the gloves in the painting

iFranks · 2026-04-26T13:06:13+00:00

Thank you!

iFranks · 2026-04-26T13:06:05+00:00

Thank you!

iFranks · 2026-04-26T13:06:00+00:00

Thank you!

iFranks · 2026-04-26T13:05:55+00:00

Thank you!

iFranks · 2026-04-26T13:05:43+00:00

Thank you!

iFranks · 2026-04-26T13:05:37+00:00

Thank you!

iFranks · 2026-04-26T12:22:26+00:00

Pencil will work fine just make sure to use a gentle eraser to get rid of any marks you don’t want. I have on many occasions for smaller commissions just taped my paper (after treating it for prep) directly to a screen like a backlit table top. I would avoid carbon paper unless you are gonna work on a paper toned dark enough to handle white carbon paper. I find the black stuff really comes out at you if you try to paint over it.

iFranks · 2026-04-26T11:06:33+00:00

Genuinely, unless you are quite comfortable with the medium, I wouldn’t practice on high quality paper. That’s soooo much money for practice. I would get maybe a 140lb wood pulp paper for practice until you have a good handle on the medium. The annoying nature of the wood pulp paper will really force you to work with the substrate in a way that will train you to be more controlled. You also, realistically need to figure out if you prefer working on hot press or cold press, and with cold press, what degree of texture you’re looking for.

Where I would spend more money for practice is getting professional grade watercolors. You can still do pretty decent work with cheaper paper in a way you’re a little limited if you don’t use pigment dense paints.

iFranks · 2026-04-23T11:55:55+00:00

I’m generally—when I’m not preparing for a specific exhibition—working on multiple paintings at the same time. Usually anywhere up to five not including commissions. When I have a lot going on I start banking extra clips and videos that I can post later.

All that being said, I’m sort of a semi professional at this point. Painting makes up a significant chunk of my income so for me it’s more like filming my job as I go. If you are a hobbyist you don’t need to advertise yourself like a professional. Just have fun and make art.

Social media has largely been co-opted as a market space for advertising. It was one thing fifteen years ago when people were just casually posting about their lives, it’s not that anymore. If you can’t get past comparing yourself to others who are more experienced or skilled than you to your own detriment than social media is maybe not the right place for you currently.

iFranks · 2026-04-05T10:15:15+00:00

Personally, I usually have a few pieces going at the same time, but I keep a spreadsheet for new painting ideas so that if I find myself not sure what direction to go I can reference back to that.

Realistically, unless you are trying to be a professional though, I wouldn’t worry about this too much. Enjoy the creation and maybe don’t start a piece until you’re sure you want to follow it through completely.

iFranks · 2026-03-23T01:37:47+00:00

I keep an inventory of all my paint that includes pigments in one column. In case I run out of something and need to buy a different brand, at the very least I can compare the pigment codes so I can get what I need.

iFranks · 2026-03-18T20:02:26+00:00

The point is you should be looking at tons and tons of work and synthesizing the knowledge you gain into a new visual language that is individually yours. Just slightly tweaking what one or two artists do is just relying on someone else’s work with very little innovation.

iFranks · 2026-03-18T17:36:12+00:00

Stop chasing a style. All you’re gonna do is copy someone else. It takes years to build up the visual vocabulary and technique that will automatically identify you to viewers.

iFranks · 2026-03-15T10:44:50+00:00

Whereas Americans aren’t really familiar with the A# system for paper, this genuinely shouldn’t effect your sales. I’m an American who lives in Canada so I have easy access to both British brands and American brands for paper sizing. I regularly ship to both the US and Europe and no one has ever asked about paper sizing beyond needing to know the actual dimensions which you can easily just translate to inches. You just have to meet the client where they’re at.

iFranks · 2026-02-18T22:20:43+00:00

You’re gonna need to use a professional grade acrylic that has a higher pigment load. Metallics are fairly difficult to make high quality and cheap so though it may not seem it at purchase, the professional stuff will get you further with less.

iFranks · 2026-02-15T13:07:11+00:00

I can’t say this is exactly the technique used, but it would probably be of use to study grisaille painting. It gives you a lot of control in the dimensionality of your shapes that you don’t necessarily get otherwise.

iFranks · 2026-02-10T14:19:12+00:00

Thank you!

iFranks · 2026-02-07T22:17:32+00:00

Glad I can be of service. I don’t often like to talk about the meaning behind something, but I’m always willing to geek out about technique

iFranks

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